More Sound Science Down the Sewer-Japan has 20 Month Old

[Oldtimer]

TOKYO (Reuters) April 17, 2006 - Japan is conducting tests on a 20-month-old steer suspected of having mad cow disease, a top government official said on Monday, and the case could have wide repercussions on Tokyo's beef trade policy if confirmed.

When Tokyo last December eased a ban on beef imports from the United States and Canada, imposed after the two countries reported cases of mad cow disease, it stipulated that the meat could only come from cattle aged up to 20 months.

The ceiling was set because mad cow disease, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), had never been found in Japan in an animal younger than 21 months.

Japan has so far confirmed 24 cases of mad cow disease, a Farm Ministry official said. The regional government of Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, said over the weekend that it had discovered a 20-month-old castrated Holstein that had tested positive for BSE in initial tests.

An official with the regional government said the carcass had been sent to a government institution for detailed tests, which were expected to be completed this week.

Ishihara said, however, that Tokyo would have to review its domestic policy if BSE is confirmed in the animal.

"Moreover, this would be the kind of thing that will influence the terms of U.S. and Canadian (beef) exports," he told a news conference.

Tokyo again halted U.S. beef imports in January, just a month after it partially lifted the two-year ban, when banned spinal material, thought to pose a higher risk of carrying the disease, was found in a veal shipment from New York.

 

[flounder]

Subject: JAPAN AWAITS BSE TEST RESULTS ON 20-MONTH-OLD STEER
Date: April 17, 2006 at 6:38 am PST


Japan awaits BSE test result on 20-month-old steer

Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:14am ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is conducting tests on a 20-month-old steer suspected of having mad cow disease, a top government official said on Monday, and the case could have wide repercussions on Tokyo's beef trade policy if confirmed.

When Tokyo last December eased a ban on beef imports from the United States and Canada, imposed after the two countries reported cases of mad cow disease, it stipulated that the meat could only come from cattle aged up to 20 months.

The ceiling was set because mad cow disease, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), had never been found in Japan in an animal younger than 21 months.

Japan has so far confirmed 24 cases of mad cow disease, a Farm Ministry official said. The regional government of Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, said over the weekend that it had discovered a 20-month-old castrated Holstein that had tested positive for BSE in initial tests.


An official with the regional government said the carcass had been sent to a government institution for detailed tests, which were expected to be completed this week.

Vice Agriculture Minister Mamoru Ishihara said he had heard that the chances of the detailed tests confirming that the animal had BSE were low, adding that he did not like to comment on what was still inconclusive.

Ishihara said, however, that Tokyo would have to review its domestic policy if BSE is confirmed in the animal.

"Moreover, this would be the kind of thing that will influence the terms of U.S. and Canadian (beef) exports," he told a news conference.

Tokyo again halted U.S. beef imports in January, just a month after it partially lifted the two-year ban, when banned spinal material, thought to pose a higher risk of carrying the disease, was found in a veal shipment from New York. Continued...



The two countries are currently in talks to set the terms for a resumption of beef trade, although no timetable has been set for its restart.

The United States was one of the top suppliers of beef to Japan before Tokyo imposed the ban in December 2003, exporting about 240,000 tonnes that year, valued at $1.4 billion.

Separately, Canada continues to export beef to Japan, and Ishihara said the confirmation of a fifth case of BSE in Canada over the weekend would not influence Japan's policy.

"There is no problem with food safety as long as Canada follows export conditions," Ishihara said.


Canada, a minor beef exporter to Japan even before the ban was imposed in May 2003, shipped about 62 tonnes of beef between December and February, a farm ministry official said.

Many Japanese consumers are sensitive to issues of food safety, including mad cow disease. A human form of the brain-wasting disease has been blamed for the deaths of more than 160 people worldwide, including one in Japan.


http://today.reuters.com/news/articlene ... POLICY.xml




http://today.reuters.com/news/articlene ... 45;=&sz=13




YEP, GWs BSE MRR policy (the legal trading of all strains of mad cow i.e. TSE globally) will most definately come back to haunt all of us in the years to come. THIS policy which was forced fed to just about everyone when the USA, Canada, and Mexico started complaining to the OIE about trade after the first few cases of BSE, and then the OIE folded and gave in, this policy should be revoked around the world and a revamped BSE GBR risk assessment brought forth again, even stronger this time to consider all TSE in a given country. but to continue to trade TSE globally with this BSE MRR policy, will continue to spread all strains all around the globe. ...


TSS

 

[flounder]

The implications of the Swiss result for Britain, which has had the
most BSE, are complex. Only cattle aged 30 months or younger are eaten
in Britain, on the assumption, based on feeding trials, that cattle of
that age, even if they were infected as calves, have not yet
accumulated enough prions to be infectious. But the youngest cow to
develop BSE on record in Britain was 20 months old, showing some are
fast incubators. Models predict that 200-300 cattle under 30 months
per year are infected with BSE and enter the food chain currently in
Britain. Of these 3-5 could be fast incubators and carrying detectable
quantities of prion.


If one were to test cattle routinely at abattoirs in Britain, it is
possible that only those 3-5 would be detectable, and thus could be
kept out of the food chain. So routine testing may not be
cost-effective. On the other hand, these predictions are based
entirely on modelling. Some think that at least a study similar to the
Swiss one should be carried out in Britain to actually measure the
extent of infection, especially if there is a subclinical strain that
is not reflected in models based on clinical incidence.



snip...




http://www.sare.org/sanet-mg/archives/h ... /0359.html


https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/BSEcom.nsf ... AutoFramed




TSS

 

[flounder]

4/18/2006 7:46:00 AM
Steer Suspected Of BSE Tests Negative In Japan



TOKYO (AP)--A 20-month-old steer in northeastern Japan initially suspected of having mad cow disease has tested negative, a health official said Tuesday.



The young Holstein was slaughtered for meat last week in Fukushima prefecture and initially tested positive for the brain-wasting disease.



But further tests at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo showed the steer did not have mad cow disease, according to prefectural health official Shinichi Nakajima.



The case had caused concern because of the steer's young age. The youngest cow to have contracted the disease as of 2005 was a 20-month-old cow found in the United Kingdom in 1992, according to Japan's Food Safety Commission.



Separately, inspectors in Okayama prefecture (state), west of Tokyo, found late Monday that a 6-year-old dairy cow, intended to be slaughtered for meat, has tested positive for the disease, said health official Waichiro Kawai.



Confirmation of the results could come as early as Wednesday, Kawai said. ...............................snip


http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.as ... ntid=30298

TSS

 

[S.R.R.]

So why is it that Japan will take "higher risk" Canadian beef and not US beef? Is it still from when the US sent them band beef parts?